Carolina Civic Center prepares Christmas show

Purnell Swett High School junior Richard Bullard rehearses with the Civettes for an upcoming performance of “A Robeson County Christmas” at the Carolina Civic Center. Shows begin on Dec. 7.

LUMBERTON — More songs, more talent, and more shows is the theme for this year’s showing of “A Robeson County Christmas” at the Carolina Civic Center.

Two more nights have been added to this year’s performance schedule. The show will be on stage Dec. 7 – 9 at 7 p.m.; Dec. 9 at 2 p.m.; and Dec. 10 at 3 p.m.

“We keep expanding the show, but I love it when we expand the cast and there’s more cast then there has ever been in the show,” said Richard Sceiford, the theater’s executive director. “It provides new energy and new faces. I love when we have new cast members that become a part of the family.”

The show is an annual heart-warming holiday musical revue geared toward the entire family. The show features regional performers singing and dancing. This year’s show also features Lumberton’s own Miss North Carolina 2013-14, Johna Edmonds, X-Factor Top 40 selection Tyler Cole, and Jef the Mime and other featured singers. The theater will be decorated for Christmas and there will be appearances by Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus.

The creative mind behind the show is Kendrix Singletary, who created and directs the play. Singletary is the Civic Center’s resident artist and production manager and is in charge of finding local talent and creating shows for the theater. Six years ago he pitched “A Robeson County Christmas.”

“This show has lived in my head for years. I literally dream about this stuff,” he said. “It’s such a blessing to have the creative outlet that allows me the opportunity to just create anything that I see — anything that I can imagine — anything that I can dream is realized on that stage.”

The show includes three cast groups. The featured singers (all adult) sing solos and duets throughout the show. The “Civettes” are the young teen and college women who sing and dance as a group throughout the show, and the youngest children have their own numbers.

“My job is to create musically driven shows that are designed to bring in talent off the street,” Singletary said.

Addison Long, 11, is a veteran to the show because this is her third year. She will be singing duets of “All I Want for Christmas” and “Let it go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.”

“We always doubt if we’re going to do good at the show, but I think I’m going to do fine,” she said.

One of her favorite things about doing the show is getting to know her castmates.

“You get to meet new people over the years and over time they just start to feel like family,” she said.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $22 for seniors and military. Tickets for South Eastern Regional Medical Center PrivilegesPlus members are $20, and $10 for students. The group rate is $17 per ticket with advance purchase of 10 or more at the same time, and are available by contacting the box office.

Tickets can be purchased online by going to the theater’s website at www.carolinaciviccenter.com. Tickets also can be purchased in person or by telephone from noon to 6 p.m. weekdays through the administrative offices in the theater’s second floor — enter on Fourth Street side — or by calling the Civic Center at 910-738-4339. Tickets also can be purchased at the door. The theater lobby box office opens for ticket sales an hour before the performance.

The theater is located at 315 N. Chestnut St. in Lumberton.

“There are many, many people in the whole region for which this is their Christmas show now. That what makes me really proud,” Richard Sceiford said.

Purnell Swett High School junior Richard Bullard rehearses with the Civettes for an upcoming performance of “A Robeson County Christmas” at the Carolina Civic Center. Shows begin on Dec. 7.

http://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/web1_DSCN28452017112211167439.jpgPurnell Swett High School junior Richard Bullard rehearses with the Civettes for an upcoming performance of “A Robeson County Christmas” at the Carolina Civic Center. Shows begin on Dec. 7.